Learn more about The Affair (Jack Reacher 16):

Everything starts somewhere. For elite military cop Jack Reacher, that somewhere was Carter Crossing, Mississippi, way back in 1997. A lonely railroad track. A crime scene. A cover-up. A young woman is dead, and solid evidence points to a soldier at a nearby military base. But that soldier has powerful friends in Washington. Available in a tall Premium Edition.

From the Publisher:

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Everything starts somewhere. For elite military cop Jack Reacher, that somewhere was Carter Crossing, Mississippi, way back in 1997.

A lonely railroad track. A crime scene. A cover-up. A young woman is dead, and solid evidence points to a soldier at a nearby military base. But that soldier has powerful friends in Washington.

Reacher is ordered undercoverto find out everything he can and then to vanish. But when he gets to Carter Crossing, Reacher meets local sheriff Elizabeth Deveraux, who has a thirst for justiceand an appetite for secrets. Uncertain they can trust each other, they reluctantly join forces. Finding unexpected layers to the case, Reacher works to uncover the truth, while others try to bury it forever. The conspiracy threatens to shatter his faith in his mission?and turn him into a man to be feared.

Don't miss Lee Child's short story ?Second Son? and a sneak peek of his new novel, A Wanted Man, in the back of the book.

Annotation:For readers who have been following the heroic acts of Lee Child's character Jack Reacher over the course of his series, installment 16 will be like the Holy Grail. Finally, after so many adventures spread across nearly 15 years, readers will learn the details about how Reacher became the tall, dirty blonde, and viciously clever man they adore. Up until this point, the Reacher story began after he had left the military after many years in the service. In THE AFFAIR, however, we go back to the seminal moment Reacher leaves the Army and heads over to the Pentagon to work for them. His assignment leads him down south to Mississippi and into the thick of a plot involving clandestine American activities in Kosovo. As the title suggests, there is also--finally--a bit of romance in a Reacher novel. Neither this affair nor his working relationship with the Pentagon will last, but the exciting-as-ever story that unfolds here reveals, like a VH1 "Behind the Music" special, how Reacher developed the idiosyncratic, carefully calibrated habits that often save his life.For readers who have been following the heroic acts of Lee Child's character Jack Reacher over the course of his series, installment 16 will be like the Holy Grail. Finally, after so many adventures spread across nearly 15 years, readers will learn the details about how Reacher became the tall, dirty blonde, and viciously clever man they adore. Up until this point, the Reacher story began after he had left the military after many years in the service. In THE AFFAIR, however, we go back to the seminal moment Reacher leaves the Army and heads over to the Pentagon to work for them. His assignment leads him down south to Mississippi and into the thick of a plot involving clandestine American activities in Kosovo. As the title suggests, there is also--finally--a bit of romance in a Reacher novel. Neither this affair nor his working relationship with the Pentagon will last, but the exciting-as-ever story that unfolds here reveals, like a VH1 "Behind the Music" special, how Reacher developed the idiosyncratic, carefully calibrated habits that often save his life.

Author Bio

Lee Child

Lee Child is the man behind Jack Reacher, a six-foot-five-inch drifter and ex-military policeman who has been featured in more than a dozen best-selling thrillers. Child, who stands the same height as the hero of his series, was born in Coventry, England, and raised in the nearby working-class city of Birmingham. He began his career as a producer with Granada, the television company responsible for such shows as THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN and BRIDESHEAD REVISITED. In 1995, when he was 40, he was laid off due to a corporate restructuring. He used his unexpected free time to write the first Reacher novel, KILLING FLOOR, which was published in 1997. The book, which won an Anthony Award for best debut of the year, proved exceptionally popular, and Child now has millions of avid fans. Child once said of his protagonist, "I look at the character as an update of a very old figure, who comes out of 1,000 years of literary tradition: the loner, the mysterious stranger, the knight errant who shows up, solves a problem and then leaves. He came out of Scandinavian sagas and English tales of knights and survived into the American West and pop lit." Explaining why Reacher's adventures take place in the U.S., Child, who is married to an American woman, has said, "The idea of writing against a huge landscape, a vast continent where anything could happen, greatly appealed to me."

Praise

"Child's mastery of high-octane plotting remains remarkable, as does his ability to inject what, in other hands, might have been cartoon characters with all the sinews that power human beings." (starred review)" - Bill Ott 08/01/2011

"Child's mastery of high-octane plotting remains remarkable, as does his ability to inject what, in other hands, might have been cartoon characters with all the sinews that power human beings." (starred review) - Bill Ott 08/01/2011

"Compelling from the first page, the novel will only increase Child's readership. His is the best in the business and this only solidifies that truth." (top pick) - Jeff Ayers 10/01/2011